


The Sloth, The Thief, and the Unfortunate Poet: The Worst Demigoddesses Series

by theworstdemigoddesses



Category: Galavant (TV), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: The Worst Demigoddesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-08-11 12:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20153539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theworstdemigoddesses/pseuds/theworstdemigoddesses
Summary: Three idiot geniuses get sent to a camp for demigods where they lie, cheat, and scam to reach their own selfish goals. Meanwhile, something bigger is brewing..."Demigods green to Olympus will go,Their true path the stars will show.To meet the gods and face them all,By gift or curse to rise or fall."





	1. Chapter 1- The Beginning

\-----HAYLIE-----

Haylie was always falling asleep. Literally everywhere, anytime, uncontrollably. The doctors thought it was narcolepsy, but the meds didn’t do squat. She thought she would live the rest of her life as ‘The Sleep Freak’. The only one who understood her was her cat, Leo, because he too took twelve naps a day. Of course, this was before she found out about camp. One day, out of the blue, some weird goat kid in a hat showed up at her door to “take her away.” Scared her out of her mind. But, that’s a story for later. The point is, she ended up at some...well I guess you’d call it a camp but really it was like Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, and she was one of the friends. Everyone was a freak, so no one was a freak? No one knew how to help her sleeping problem though, so no one would let her on a quest. 

Haylie felt lonely at the camp. Since she was constantly falling asleep, no one wanted to be her friend, because she wasn’t much fun to hang out with. Her cat seemed to be her only companion. After a while, she got sick of this. There was a game of capture the flag coming up and she was determined to not only play, but to win. Armed with 8 cups of coffee and a caffeine patch she stole from one of the older campers, Haylie set off to find one of the best capture the flag players Camp Half-Blood had ever seen- Rachael Conin, daughter of Hermes. 

Rachael Conin was a bit older than Haylie, and she had been at the camp for many years. It was rumored that she spent all her time preparing for the next game of capture the flag. She slept with the flag she captured from the previous game clutched in her arms. When she went on quests, they always had to do with capturing something.  
Haylie walked up to Rachael Conin, slightly shaking.

“Uh… hey there,” Haylie said as she tried to curb the urge to close her eyes, knowing that if she succeeded they probably wouldn’t open again anytime soon.

“What’s up? You good? You’re kind of shaking…” Rachael Conin responded looking at Haylie super concerned.

“Super duper,” Haylie responded, cringing at the way she sounded like a suburban middle aged women. 

“So…” Rachael Conin looked at Haylie questioningly, probably wondering what the heck this rando was doing talking to her.

“Oh yeah so sorry! I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime, maybe play capture the flag?” Haylie asked hopefully, praying to gods that she would agree. Rachael Conin looked at her consideringly, Haylie knew from the rumors she’s heard around camp that she was very picky about who she hung out with.

“I suppose so, wouldn’t hurt. Listen, I have to go practice for the game tonight, maybe you can come to the practices for next week’s game? We can definitely hang out later at the campfire, come find me k?” 

“Fun fun! I definitely will, see ya!” Haylie responded as Rachael Conin started walking away. Oh shoot not again she thought as she felt her body starting to become heavy with sleep, Leo let out a little mrrp of protest as she collapsed. 

\-----CAMMIE-----

Cammie always knew she was different. She literally couldn't stop herself from turning everything into a poem. She wasn’t trying to rhyme, it just kept happening. She never felt like she belonged anywhere, until there was a new kid at her school. He only spoke in rhyme, for some reason, so he was the one person Cammie could talk to without feeling embarrassed. He told Cammie about a club he knew about where rhyming was all the rage. To Cammie, it sounded more like a gang, but she knew she finally found a place she could belong.

He told her that in order to join the gang she would have to move to his camp, and that she probably wouldn’t be able to go home again after. Cammie was kind of fine with it, her parents never let her stay up late or eat the snacks she wanted anyways. The night after they met, she slipped through her window to meet him outside and they hitch-hiked to this so called camp. When she got to camp, she immediately realized some shiny thing was being broadcasted, for lack of a better word, above her head- it was a Lyre.

“Wow that picture of the Lyre sure is clear,” the boy, whose name was Gavin, said. Fast forward two weeks and she was all settled in at her new home.

She was one of the lucky ones, apparently. Most kids didn’t figure out who their parents were till they were like a full summer in. Her Apollo bunkmates were pretty cool, except they didn’t seem to have her speech problem. One of them, Lilly?, thought maybe she was cursed. Figures. They were nice and everything, but Cammie was the new kid. She did not want to be the center of attention, so as soon as she got the chance, she booked it. She was trying to figure out where everything was in this place when she stumbled upon Haylie. Literally, she tripped over her sleeping body. Cammie screamed, of course. Haylie looked practically dead. It was the power of that scream that woke Haylie up.

“What’s going on? Where am I?” Haylie asked, startled.

“Hey, you, sleeping girl, why were you on the wet grass, do you have no bed?”

“What? I’m Haylie. I was just taking a cat nap.” Right on cue, her cat Leo jumped onto her lap.

“A cat just sat like that so flat. I fear he’ll hear my heart so near.” Cammie looked at Leo like he was about to jump on her face.

“Um, okay.” Haylie stood up with Leo in her arms. “I’m gonna go...I guess I’ll see you at the campfire.”

“The fire burns brighter, I love to eat marshmallows, please save me a seat,” Cammie cringed at herself.

“Um, wow, that’s the time. I gotta…” Haylie walked off with Leo trailing behind her.

\-----KARA-----

Kara always had a lot of friends because they thought she was hilarious, and she was. However, they didn’t realize that most of the time her mocking was laced with truth. Once people started to realize this they would get mad, but hey, she had other friends just in case. When she got to Camp Half-Blood, she quickly realized that she couldn’t get away with talking shit about everyone as well as she could at her private school- everyone knew how to fight and most were easily angered. Anyways, she got to Camp Half-Blood after she accused some guy of having legs like a goat, as a joke, but then he just responded, “About time you noticed, are you ready to go?” and she was so confused that all she could do was follow, and all of a sudden she was moving into a cabin with bunk beds and a ton of other kids.

She couldn’t mock these people. It’s not that she didn’t try, really she gave it her all. But it was all true! Every joke she could think of turned out to be one hundred percent not a joke. They started calling her Captain Obvious - how lame is that? No one wanted to hang out with her so she was stuck calling out the nereids and dryads until they ran away. They just couldn’t handle her unstoppable wit. She’d never not had friends before. Sure, she’d lost friends, but she had always kept a back up circle. Now she was more alone than that weird chick who kept falling asleep. And to make it worse, her godly parent or whatever didn’t even want her. If no one on or off Olympus wanted her, why was she even here? She needed some way to gain respect. Some scheme to make people see that she was cooler than all of them.

Luckily, it was nearly time for the semi-annual Camp Half-Blood rap battle. Kara had spent years perfecting her freestyle, as there was no purer form than mocking people than through rhyme. The only problem was she needed a partner in order to sign up, and she had no friends. That’s when the thought struck her, she needed a friend, and she needed luck! A lucky friend! But where to find someone like that…

Kara walked up to a cabin at random and knocked on the door. A girl not much older than her opened the door. She had straight brown hair and was wearing a sweater, even though Kara thought it was too warm for that.

“Yes?” the girl said.

“Yes, hello. My name is Kara and I’m looking for a partner for tonight’s rap battle. Is there anyone around who can rap?"

“Oh, yeah, come on in,” she said, stepping aside. “Welcome to the Tyche cabin, goddess of luck.”

The cabin was the most well organized cabin Kara had been in yet. There were only four beds, all of them made. The girl sat down on the one near the door.

“You know, I was thinking about entering the rap battle,” she said. “I’m Alison, by the way.”

“Wow, lucky! Should we team up?”


	2. Chapter 2- The Rap Battle

~~~~AT THE RAP BATTLE BEFORE THE CAMPFIRE~~~~

\-----Haylie-----

Haylie glanced around as a crowd started to form around the fire. What’s going on??? She thought to herself. She spotted Rachael Conin standing on the outskirts of the crowd and decided to go talk to her, double checking that Leo was still following her and that she was wearing another caffeine patch. It was super embarrassing for her to wake up in the middle of camp by a random girl.   
Luckily, not to be rude, the girl didn’t seem that cool anyways, what was her name? Camo? Anyways, she walked up to Rachael Conin and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Haylie asked.

“The semi-annual summer rap off, honestly it’s super lame but usually ends up making most people laugh. I heard there were some newbies entering this year,” Rachael Conin responded, laughing a little under her breath. 

“Oh no way, that’s interesting… at least that one guy is kinda hot,” Haylie responded, pointing to a kid with dark hair and sea green orbs eyes standing in the middle. 

“Don’t go there bud,” Rachael Conin said, smiling widely, “the girl next to him is his girlfriend and I think she’s pretty possessive.” Haylie frowned but shrugs, there were plenty of other hot guys around to look at.

“Want to go get a seat? I think it seems like it’s going to start soon,” Haylie casually offered, hoping she wouldn’t say no- she was really hoping they would be friends.

“Yeah! I think I see two over there next to Al,” Rachael Conin responded. Haylie nodded and followed, who even was Al?? Rachael Conin led her over to a girl with blonde hair and green eyes, not as green as the guy from before though. The girl turned and looked at them.

“Hi! I’m Allison, but everyone calls me Al, are you new?” the girl said, smiling. Haylie could tell that she seemed friendly and liked her instantly.

“Yeah I am! I’m Haylie, and this is Leo,” Haylie said, pointing to her cat that was sitting at her feet. 

“Oh lit! Nice to meet you, Rachael Conin and I are always looking for a new friend,” Al said grinning over at Rachael Conin. The look on Rachael Conin’s face makes it pretty clear that this wasn’t the case but Haylie got the vibe that Rachael Conin didn’t mind having her around.

“Shh it’s starting,” Rachael Conin said, and the three of them turned to look at the front. Rap battles weren’t really her thing, maybe she’ll take a quick nap while it’s going on. 

\-----Kara-----

Kara and Alison were backstage preparing for the rap battle. They both had their Gucci shades on and big gold dollar sign necklaces. Alison was still wearing her sweater.

“Aren’t you warm in that?” Kara asked.

“Yeah, but I feel like it’s going to get cold later.”

A camp counselor with big hair, a big clip board, and an even bigger……………………… heart walked up to the duo.

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve met., I’m Nana!” the counselor said. “It looks like you guys are up next, against…” she flipped a page, “Percy and Annabeth. Good luck!”

Nana walked onto the stage. Kara and Alison could hear the cheers. They peeked around the curtain and watched as Nana introduced them.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, and more, welcome, to the 726th Camp-Half Blood Semi Annual Rap Battle! As you all know, the champions from last year were recently eaten alive, so they are not here to defend their title. Now, give it up for Percabeth!”

Percy and Annabeth walked on stage from the opposite side of where Kara and Alison stood. Percy was a kid with dark hair and sea green eyes. Annabeth was BLONDE (this is very important), and had a cap in her back pocket. The crowd cheered for them vigorously.

“And now, give it up for the challengers,” said Nana. “Kara and Alison!”

There was significantly less applause.

“Rachel, Brendan, give them a beat, and let the battle begin!”

Two other camp counselors started beating on large jugs. They were… well, they were having a good time.

Annabeth stepped up to the plate first.

“Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Archimedes. You’re gonna lose so bad you’ll need to sign two treaties.”

Her rap was decent. Her rhymes weren’t as tight as Kara had been expecting them to be but that was good for her team.

Alison stepped up next. Her rhymes were fresh as fuck. I’m talkin farmers market on a Sunday fresh. I’m talkin Double Dutch Bus fresh. I’m talkin- well you get it. It’s fresh.

“Rap, tap, diddly dap!”

Percy was up next.

“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy  
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti  
He's nervous, b-”

“Stop stop!” said Alison. “Those are the lyrics to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, he’s cheating!”

The crowd booed Percy off stage.

Now it was Kara’s turn, and she knew she could do better than that no good dirty ass cheating fish Pervy.

“Yo my name is Kara and I’m here to say  
I’m gonna beat your ass on this day.”  
Everyone applauded!

\-----Cammie-----

Cammie stood with her arms folded, annoyed that Gavin had managed to convince her to join him in the “rap battle.” The last thing she wanted to do was being on stage rhyming in front of everyone. Rhymes only ever made her look lame. Cammie flashed back to when she met Haylie earlier and shuddered. At least, with Gavin, she won’t be the biggest idiot on stage. Cammie carefully peeked out from behind the curtain. Percy and Annabeth, the legends of the camp, were battling with some new kid and a girl in a sweater in the middle of actual July. And they were losing. Badly.  
When the new kid, Kara, won, she did not do it gracefully. 

“I AM THE CHAMPION!” She shouted, literally shouted, into the microphone. It was so loud, Cammie saw Haylie wake up in the audience. “THERE ARE NONE WHO CAN BEST ME!”  
Cammie mumbled under her breath. “‘None who can best me?’ You don’t even test me.”

A hush fell over the crowd. Poor Cammie, she didn’t realize she was standing right next to the backup mics.

“Who just SAID THAT?” Kara screeched from the stage.

“Um,” Cammie said, stepping into the light. “It was me, you see, and I have to say, with that flow you’d better just stay away. You’re rhymes, while cute, lack a certain power. While mine, you’ll find, make Demeter flower.” On cue, one of the Demeter kids (Ashley?) made Honeysuckle blossom over the stage. “Just listen, you’ll hear, my words have meaning. You, I fear, are better off cleaning.”

The crowd laughed as Kara’s face turned beet red. “You think you’re so smart, up on your high horse. But your words Have slack and your lyrics are coarse.”

Cammie laughed. “I’ll exempt this attempt at rap you’ve made. It’s not your fault, you’re a rock, I’m a blade.”

“Owned!” Someone called from the crowd. Kara was pissed, but she couldn’t stop now,  
“A blade, more like slayed, you couldn’t cut butter. You should leave while you can, right back to the gutter,” Kara rapped.

“You sputter and stutter and mutter your complaints. Someone should tie your tongue with some restraints. You never stood a chance, never had any hope. Soon as I stepped on this stage, I knew you were a dope. So back up, run along, with your sweater weather friend. You lost, boohoo, this is the end.”

Kara stepped up to say more, but Alison held her back. They’d lost this fight, and everyone knew it. Nana hopped back onto the stage and the crowd cheered. “Alright! I think we can all agree that the champions of this battle, and the night, are Cammie and Gavin!”

Gavin took a bow, actually he took several, and Cammie glanced over at Kara. If eyes could set fires, Kara’s would have started a blaze. Cammie gulped at the thought of having made Kara an enemy. She watched as Alison took Kara off the stage and into the crowd, looking back once with an appreciative glance towards Gavin.


	3. Chapter 3-Post Rap Battle

~~~~AT THE CAMPFIRE~~~~

\-----Haylie-----

Haylie felt much better after her quick nap during the rap battle, but was a little disappointed she missed it when she woke up to Rachael Conin and Al cackling next to her. Apparently it had been hilarious and actually competitive this year. She spotted the camo girl from earlier being crowned winner on stage and raised her eyebrows, I can’t believe that girl won, maybe I had judged her too quickly, Haylie thought to herself. Then she shook her head slightly, nah she was still pretty strange. Haylie felt someone nudge her shoulder slightly and looked over to see Al looking at her questioningly and she realized that she hadn’t been listening to the conversation Rachael Conin and Al were having. 

“Oh sorry I’m fine, just still waking up, I think it’s been a long day,” Haylie said blushing slightly, embarrassed that she had been caught spacing out in front of her new friends. Al and Rachael Conin laughed and then the three of them started walking over to where everyone else was gathering. Haylie felt herself getting nervous at the thought of more mingling, but she knew it was a good way to meet other people (in case Al and Rachael Conin got tired of her tagging along with them). Haylie shivered a little, it was getting colder and she wished she had brought a sweater.  
They walked over to a group of three older kids in the camp, two girls named Nana and Rachel and a boy named Brendan. Haylie introduced herself politely and they exchanged a little bit of small talk before Rachael Conin and Al start chatting with them about the next capture the flag game. Haylie felt herself losing interest as she looked around- people watching was one of her favorite things and she always liked to know a bit about people before she talked to them. She knew it was a little creepy, but she was sure other people definitely did it too. Leo chirped at her feet and Haylie leaned down, about to pick him up, when a Korean boy who smelled faintly like axe tripped over him. 

“Oh gosh are you okay?” Haylie asked, panicked. 

“Oops didn’t realize about the cat, I wouldn’t have walked where he was sat,” the boy said. What is with the people at this camp and rhyming, Haylie thought to herself. 

“My name is Gavin by the way, nice to meet you girl called Hay,” he added smiling. How did he know my name, this is weird, Haylie thought before realizing she hadn’t said anything back to him yet. 

“Oh it’s ok…” Haylie said kindly, feeling kind of bad for the kid who looked embarrassed. She looked down at Leo who was sitting at her feet, looking ruffled from the incident but otherwise completely fine and sighed in relief. She then looked back up at the kid who was nervously playing with the buttons on his shirt and sighed, she wished he would just leave already. She glanced behind him and saw the camo girl, making a mental note to eventually learn her real name, staring at him with distaste.

“Hey, I think your friend is over there waiting for you,” Haylie said and pointed over at the girl, laughing to herself. Haylie always secretly loved causing drama. He jumped a little at being addressed again, looked behind him and then grinned. He gave a quirky little salute to Haylie and then started walking back towards the girl. When the girl realized he was walking back over her eyes widened in panic, and she started to push her way into the middle of the crowd to avoid him. Haylie then decided she had probably had enough socializing for the night and picked up Leo, saying a quick goodnight to the group, and headed back to her cabin so she could finally get some well deserved rest. 

\-----Cammie-----

Cammie lost Gavin in the crowd, thank the gods. She did not know what his deal was! Always rhyming like an idiot. Looking around at the campfire, everyone was in a group. Cammie didn’t know why she thought a camp where kids are divided based on their godly parents and talents and encouraged to competitively fight to the death would be less cliquey, but she did. The sleeping girl had a huge group of friends already, and so many of them were older. It sucked being fourteen and new.

She caught a flash of movement weaving through the feet of Sleepy’s friends. Oh, no. This can’t be happening. She was supposed to be safe here. Free from monsters and evil creatures. But sure as the sun shone, Cammie saw a cat sitting right there out in the open. It flicked its tail like it was getting ready to strangle her with it. She stood absolutely still, hoping it would think she was a tree or something. She definitely wished she was a tree. Wait, no. Cats can climb trees. Oh, this was a horrible mistake. Now the cat was making eye contact. It was stealing her soul. She saw Sleepy point at her and felt the blood drain from her body. This was it. She was sending the cat over here to eat her. Cammie took off running.

She wove her way through the crowds of people waiting for something around the campfire. Eventually she stopped to catch her breath. If the cat was still after her, it would have caught her by now with it’s unnatural powers. She was safe. Something touched her elbow and Cammie screamed and punched blindly.

“Ouch.”

Cammie never thought she would be so relieved to see Gavin. To make up for it, she slapped him in the arm.

“Scare me again and I’ll hurt you times ten.”

“Okay, whatever you say.” He was holding his cheek, which was getting redder by the second.

Cammie actually...felt...bad? “I have caused you pain, this is unforgivable, I’m very sorry.”

“It’s just a shine, I’ll be fine. Let’s sit by the pit.” 

Cammie nodded and they went to join the campfire.

Sitting on a log with her head in her hands, she watched the other Apollo kids stand around the fire and practice their harmonies. They were so - connected. It’s like they knew what each other were about to do. Apparently the Apollo cabin led singalongs during the campfires, but no one had told Cammie. She supposed they just didn’t want her messing it up with her stupid poetry thing. If she could just gain some control...but that was impossible. Cammie looked around anxiously for Kara. She felt bad about the beat down she gave her. She literally couldn’t have stopped. Kara seemed like the type of girl to get even, and she could’ve been anywhere.  
Lilly stepped in front of the flames and, honestly, she looked awesome. Cammie hated it. Campers took notice of her undeniable stage presence and began quieting down. Lilly counted down and the Apollo Cabin Choir erupted with the most beautiful sound a person could hear. Soon, the regular campers joined in and it went from a swan song to mating geese. But everyone was having a blast. Cammie hummed to herself, careful to keep her mouth shut. She couldn’t have joined the choir even if they had asked her. The one thing she was good at. Here were words that she could say right along with everyone else. If only she could sing. Her voice...let’s just say, if Apollo found out he would disown her.

When the singing ended, everyone made their way back to their respective cabins. Cammie didn’t want to be in the Apollo cabin with their singing and bragging. She stayed by the campfire until the last embers died out and all the campers were asleep.

\-----Kara-----

Kara was super angry about losing to Cammie and Gavin. First of all, Gavin didn’t do anything except stand next to Cammie, all wide eyed, like she was a goddess or something. She was a demigoddess, you casual friday looking dummy. And second, there was no way the Chameleon didn’t practice that beforehand, which was totally against the rules. Not that Kara looked at the rules before either, considering she entered the battle the day of. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. What mattered was Camel clearly cheated, and humiliated Kara in the process. There was going to be hell to pay.  
But not tonight. Tonight, all Kara wanted to do was go to bed- that’s where she did her best scheming. 

Unfortunately Kara had not been claimed yet, so that meant she was in the Unclaimed Gods House, also known as UGH. And ugh it was. To start, it really wasn’t a house so much as a shack. It was one room, and the camp shoved as many beds as was necessary at the time into the room. The unclaimed kids used to sleep in the Hermes cabin, but one of the older kids had complained about it until the camp gave in and made the UGH for them. At the moment, there were 10 kids in a room fit for four. Luckily, the one who kept falling asleep- Hazel? Hay Stack? Happy Meal? Whatever- had been claimed earlier (not that it wasn’t obvious anyway), so there was one less kid in the UGH. 

Kara climbed over some of the cots on the floor and went to her bed in the back. She was on the top most bunk of the triple bunk bed, which had apparently been made by some kid before being claimed by Hepatitis. She climbed the ladder, crawled into her sleeping bag, and began her scheming.


	4. Chapter 4-Questers

\-----Haylie-----

Haylie woke up to a song playing over and over in her head. Ugh what in the world, she thought to herself angrily. This always happened to her, if she didn’t fall asleep so easily or have an only average sounding voice she would’ve thought her real father was Apollo. Well maybe Apollo cursed me or something she decided as the chorus of “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper ran through her head again. The worst part of it was, most of the time she couldn’t even remember a whole song, it was always one line looping continuously. 

Haylie sat up and stretched, reaching sleepily into her nightstand for her caffeine patches and sighed when her fingers just grasped air. 

“Hey Freddy, do you have any extra caffeine patches?” Haylie whispered desperately, poking the guy in the bed next to her with her cold foot. The sixteen-year-old ginger grunted and rolled over, tossing her a sheet of five. 

“You owe me girly,” he sighed, shaking his head. Haylie nodded in appreciation. 

“I would be lost without you, you know I can’t stay awake for more than two hours without one. I still don’t know how I managed to be the only one with this problem,” she huffed as she threw on a hoodie and some slides before heading to the door to start her day. 

“Leo come on,” Haylie whispered, trying not to wake anyone else up. She had a good relationship with the other campers in her cabin, and she was happy to think about how many friends she had been making lately- it usually wasn’t easy for her to make friends. The cat peered at her from her bed and then stood up and stretched, only to turn away and go back to sleep with his back facing her. Haylie rolled her eyes and left without him, what a drama king, she thought to herself. 

As she shut the door softly behind her, she squinted and looked around, it was always hard to adjust from the soft light that filled the Hypnos cabin to the harsh sunlight. Another reason to think Apollo is cursing me, she thought grumpily. Haylie was not a morning person. She heard someone whistling cheerfully on the steps of the Demeter cabin as they were watering the various plants. The girl was blonde with glasses and a big smile on her face. Haylie waved and the girl waved back, calling out a cheerful good morning. Haylie thought hard and remembered that the girl was called Ashley, they had met very briefly at the campfire the night before. Haylie had remembered she was one of the older girls, as she was seventeen. It seemed like Nana, Rachel, and Brendan knew everyone that had passed them and Haylie felt like she had been introduced to practically everyone in the camp. 

As she made her way to the center of camp where breakfast was being served, she watched as more and more people streamed out of the cabins- maybe she didn’t meet everyone yet after all. The Apollo table was full, most of the people in that cabin were early morning risers afterall. She saw the korean boy, Gavin, munching on some cereal and rambling on and on to the brunette girl with blue eyes, Lilly, who had sung at the campfire the night before. Haylie briefly thought that she and Lilly kind of looked alike before continuing her scan of the area. Her eyes landed on the brunette boy from the day before with sea green eyes who was sitting next to the blonde girl and let them linger another moment before she finally rested her gaze on the Hypnos table, it was empty. Wow, I’m the first one awake, maybe I should go back to sleep, she started to think when a big commotion by the camp line grabbed her attention. She squinted into the sunlight, shielding her eyes with the back of her hand, and saw a small group of kids crossing the camp border, wearing casual armor and carrying bags stuffed with supplies. The Questers! They’re back!

She had heard other campers talk about the group that had left last month to go kill the monsters that had been lurking around New York and messing with mortals. They all looked happy and unscathed so she assumed their mission was successful. I wish I could do that, she thought to herself. She secretly was very competitive and she wanted to be better than, or at least on the same level of some of the older and more experienced campers. She knew that she would probably never be able to go because of her sleeping disorder and sighed. 

She sat down at her table and grabbed some water and toast, trying to banish the thoughts of how awesome she would be if she had been the one returning heroically from the quest as she set to work eating her breakfast. She was just finishing up the last bit of her water when the chorus of Shallow started over again in her head and she slammed her water glass down on the table, causing the people at the Tyche table next to her to glance over. She smiled sheepishly at them and then looked down at the table quickly, thinking the day is just not going my way, before scowling as she realized that it rhymed. 

\-----Cammie-----

It was Return day apparently. Some group of Questers had returned to bask in the sunlight that could never be hers. So far there hadn’t been a move from Kara...that she knew of.  
Cammie saw Nana walking by like she was on a mission and ran up to her. “Wait, mate!”

Nana stopped and turned, clearly thoroughly confused.

“Oh, hi! Cammie, right? Great job in the rap battle. You were incredible!” 

Cammie grinned and opened her mouth to say thank you, but quickly stopped when she realized she didn’t know how. Instead, she touched a hand to her heart and gave a little bow. 

“Was there something you needed? Because I’d love to chat, but I’m a little busy with the returning Questers today.”

Cammie nodded frantically. “I have a problem, it’s very embarrassing, I can’t control it.” 

“Is it serious? Are you okay?” 

Cammie looked around frustrated. She was on the verge of tears. 

“Hey, hey, don’t cry. What’s going on?”

“I speak in poems, it is much like a stutter, it ruins my life.”

“Um, are you sure?”

“I rhyme every time I speak, like a freak.”

“Lol well that explains why you were so good at the rap battle.” 

Cammie nodded, glum. “I want a quest to put it to rest.”

“That’s not how quests work. We don’t get to decide them. They have to come from a god or an oracle. Sorry, it be like that sometimes.” 

Cammie couldn’t even respond. 

“Okay, well I’ve got to go. But, I’ll see you around.”

Nana rushed off and Cammie was so depressed she sat on the wet grass with white shorts. Perfect. She should’ve known talking to Nana wouldn’t work. She was destined to live the life of a social outcast. She laid on her back and watched the clouds float by.

Of course, she couldn’t be at peace for two seconds before someone tripped on her. Sleepy tumbled to the ground on top of Cammie and instead of apologizing she just sort of fell asleep. Cammie sat up and pushed her off. When she didn’t wake up, Cammie started to panic. She shook her shoulders but nothing happened. She was about to slap her in the face to wake her up when she spotted a demon running up to them. Cammie screamed and Haylie woke up. Leo hopped into her lap and fell asleep.

Cammie jumped to her feet and scrambled back.

“I am so sorry, did I fall asleep again? That happens sometimes...most of the time. It’s kind of my curse.”

“Does your curse make life worse?”

Haylie looked at Cammie carefully. “Hey, I know you. You’re the girl who tripped over me yesterday. Looks like I returned the favor.”

“My curse makes life worse.”

Haylie went quiet. “You have one too?”

“My speech is not right, I only talk in poems, my whole life is this.”

“I fall asleep all the time.” Haylie pulled up a sleeve revealing five caffeine patches. “These kind of help, but not really. Have you ever tried writing down what you want to say instead?”

Cammie’s jaw dropped. She had most certainly not thought of writing her words down. 

Haylie got up and brushed grass from her pants. “Just something to think about.”

“I’m trying to quest, to fix my poem problem, you should come as well. To make you wake.”

“Um, I’ll think about it.” She walked off with Leo trailing behind her.

Gavin jogged up to Cammie. “Without me, making friends you be.”

Cammie rolled her eyes. “I need to look for a pen and notebook.”

“Don’t yelp, I’ll help.” 

Cammie just straight up walked away. She couldn’t deal with him right now. She was going to find a way to communicate if it killed her.

\-----Kara----- 

When Kara woke up in the morning, the first thing she learned is that one of the kids who had been sleeping on one of the floor cots, had been claimed the night before at the campfire by Ares. Good, Kara thought, not at all bitter or jealous, he was loud, the UGH is better off without him.

She sat up and looked around the UGH. Everyone was getting ready for the thirty minute walk to breakfast, as the UGH was the furthest from the center of camp and the closest to the borders where kids would sometimes go missing if they walked out of the shields and eaten alive. No one cares if the kid wasn’t even claimed, Kara realized bitterly. 

She didn’t want to get up. She had tried to come up with a plan to get revenge on Camisole, but she came up blank. To start, she didn’t want to be kicked out of camp and go home, because as gross as the UGH was, it was still better than what she left behind. But that’s a tragic backstory for another time. So she couldn’t do anything too bad to Chamomile. She also didn’t really know what resources she was working with. Maybe Kara would just spit in her drink when she wasn’t paying attention.

Kara sighed, accepting her fate. Her revenge would have to wait. 

She got up, following some of the other kids to breakfast. By the time they got there, breakfast was nearly over. They had to eat the leftover scraps the claimed kids didn’t want. There wasn’t even cream cheese for her bagel. What was this, Brody cafeteria at Michigan State University at 41 Brody W, East Lansing, MI 48825? As Kara ate a cheese bagel (gross) she listened to the other kids talk about the night before at the campfire. They sounded like they had a great time. Kara wanted to join in on the conversation, but she really didn’t have anything to contribute. One of the campers, who Kara didn’t learn the name of and didn’t want to, mentioned something that finally caught her attention.

“Did you guys see that the Questers returned this morning?” Camper 1 said.

“I did!” said Camper 2. “Gosh, I wish I could go on a quest.”

“Excuse me,” Kara said from her spot at the end of the table. Everyone swivelled to look at her. “What quest?”

“A bunch of the older campers were given a mission by the gods! They got to go out and fight monsters and shit,” said Camper 1.

“What kind of shit?” Kara asked.

“Ya know,” the camper picked up their fork and brandished it like a sword, making swishing noises. “Adventurous shit!” 

“Wow! How do you get a quest?”

“Well, to be honest, I’m not completely sure. I’m like, 13, I’ve been here for a week, and I’m not claimed. This is not the group you’re going to find answers from.”

Kara sighed at this exposition. She was going to have to go talk to someone else, someone more knowledgeable, someone who had been at the camp longer. She looked around, her eyes landing on the table with all the food. The counselor from backstage at the rap battle was cleaning up the dishes. What did she say her name was? Grandma? No, no, that’s not right it’s… Nana!

Kara got up and walked over to Nana. Nana was struggling to hold all the dishes.

“Can I help you out?” Kara asked. 

“Sure! Thank you,” said Nana. “Say, you’re the kid from the rap battle. How was the campfire?”

“Well,” Kara said, taking some of the dishes from Nana and following her into the kitchen cabin. “It was alright I suppose. But I had a question for ya.”

“Go for it.” Nana put her dishes on the counter, and Kara followed suit.

“Well, I was wondering how people get quests. I heard the Questers came back, and I was wondering where they were. I’m new to camp and…” she trailed off, shrugging. She had a feeling Nana would respond better to innocent curiosity instead of what Kara was truly thinking. 

“Well, the gods assign quests. I’m not sure when they come, or why they come to specific people and not others, but that’s just how it be sometimes. I know this isn’t really an answer, but I hope it helped a little bit. No one really understands the process.”

“But how do you know when you’ve gotten a quest?”

“Sometimes the oracle will tell you, other times there’s a message from your godly parent, and other times other things happen.”

“How vague,” Kara gumbled.

“Yeah,” Nana said, turning to the dishes. “Hey could you pass me the dish soap?

But Kara was already gone.


End file.
